This content has been archived. It may no longer be relevant
Among those critical of the scriptures, there are two points of contention that often arise before we even move beyond the text of Genesis; the ages ascribed to the patriarchs, and giants. At face value, the two might seem to be relatively isolated topics, but they’re actually far more intertwined than one might immediately recognize.
Allow me to explain…
I’ve spoken at length on this site regarding paradigm – or world view – and how that colors our perceptions and defines what we accept as “reality”. It dictates what we reject as false, fanciful or fantasy and we do this without much regard for information that conflicts with what we already believe to be true, regardless of the fact that many of the tenants that form our basis have been taught to us… we have not tested them ourselves.
Hopefully, if you’re not new to this site, the above is not a new idea to you. If you are new to the site, may I recommend a few articles to get you thinking and bring you up to speed: The Paradigm War, Part One and Part Two, and the article series; Seeing the Matrix, Parts One through Eight.
So how do the ages of the patriarchs and the subject of giants correlate to one another?
When humankind began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of humankind were beautiful. Thus they took wives for themselves from any they chose. So the Lord said, “My Spirit will not remain in humankind indefinitely, since they are mortal. They will remain for 120 more years.”
Genesis 6:1 – 5
So, right here in the text that has become foundational to any discussion regarding the subject of giants in the bible, we have a passage addressing the life-span of mankind. The question I pose to you is this; do you suppose God just miraculously shortened the life-expectancy of man, or did he change the environmental variables that enabled long life-spans in the first place?
Don’t get me wrong, God is more than able to do anything He sees fit – even at a moments notice – and there is no shortage of examples throughout scripture of truly miraculous actions being performed by the King. The thing is, I see – very plainly – evidence within the text itself that this was not what He did… at least not in this circumstance. Consider the environment described to us and consider how alien this sounds to us today:
Now no shrub of the field had yet grown on the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. Springs would well up from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground.
Genesis 2:5 – 6
Full stop; in the spirit of fair and impartial discourse, I feel it prudent to point out that even among believers, there is a point of contention with pointing to this verse and claiming that rain did not yet exist in Earth. This article from Answer in Genesis does a pretty good job of explaining the matter. My rebuttal to such protestation would be that one of us is reading into the text on the basis of “absence of information” and one of us is simply reading out of the text. I’ll let you decided who is who.
Now imagine a world without rain; one in which mists simply rise up from the ground and water the foliage. Compound this with men and women living lives that span centuries as opposed to decades… In the modern age, critics relegate this to symbolic or analogous language at best or decry it outright at worst. Moreover, they do so because it does not align with what we see and experience today.
That, in and of itself, is the problem as I see it. Essentially, we make the mistake of comparing a world that is essentially alien to us and renounce it because it doesn’t match our experience – despite the fact that scripture tells us that everything changed.
In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month—on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst open and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And the rain fell on the earth 40 days and 40 nights.
Genesis 7:11 – 12
Such a claim should be able to be corroborated don’t you think? Wouldn’t there be geologic evidence of fountains bursting forth from the deep? That’s not a trick question, of course there would… and there is. Everywhere.
This particular topic is far too immense to tackle in a single article or even a series here on this site. I would encourage you to research for yourself as you’ll find no shortage of information – and debate – on the matter. Here’s a short article from Answers in Genesis (again) just to get you started. Know up front – that’s a drop in the bucket.
I would actively encourage you to research evidences for the great flood as I have personally found it eye-opening and very rewarding. This, however, is not our focus and I’m getting off track…
~
Now, you may be wondering what any or all of this has to do with Giants and it’s a fair question. The answer, as it happens, is “everything“.
Let’s return to Genesis chapter 6. This time however, I am going to quote, not from the NET, but from the Septuagint… well, a translation of it at least.
And these are the generations of Noe. Noe was a just man; being perfect in his generation, Noe was well-pleasing to God.
Genesis 6:9 – Brenton’s Septuagint Translation
So why the change in translations? Because there’s a very important word that isn’t always used in this passage: “perfect“. The reasons for differences in translation are numerous… obtaining copyright not least among them.
So let’s tackle the burning question; how could Noah be perfect? I personally think the theological issues which arise from this straight-forward translation of the text is a big reason that so many modern translations avoid the use of it in the first place. Consider:
Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.”
Mark 10:18
So no one but God is good, yet Noah was declared perfect? See the problem?
Except… there is only a problem if one refuses to approach the narrative of Genesis as literal and authoritative. When you do so, you arrive at a number of important conclusions;
- Scripture really does tell us that God created everything in six days.
- God formed man from the dust of the earth, and created woman from man.
- The patriarchs really lived the life-spans recorded… yeah, Adam really lived to be 930 years old.
- All flesh had become corrupted on the Earth.
Oh wait… we didn’t cover that yet did we? I jest. I am fully aware that we haven’t touched this yet, because it’s the coup de’ grace.
And it came to pass when men began to be numerous upon the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God having seen the daughters of men that they were beautiful, took to themselves wives of all whom they chose. And the Lord God said, My Spirit shall certainly not remain among these men for ever, because they are flesh, but their days shall be an hundred and twenty years. Now the giants were upon the earth in those days; and after that when the sons of God were wont to go in to the daughters of men, they bore children to them, those were the giants of old, the men of renown.
.
And the Lord God, having seen that the wicked actions of men were multiplied upon the earth, and that every one in his heart was intently brooding over evil continually, then God laid it to heart that he had made man upon the earth, and he pondered it deeply. And God said, I will blot out man whom I have made from the face of the earth, even man with cattle, and reptiles with flying creatures of the sky, for I am grieved that I have made them.
.
But Noe found grace before the Lord God.
Genesis 6:1 – 8 – Brenton’s Septuagint Translation
First of all – don’t let the presentation of the names throw you; this is a translation of the Septuagint, which was written in Greek – the translators have done their best to maintain the integrity of the translation to the text, not to the modern English language. In such cases, name pronunciations differ as they form a transliteration of the name. In this case however, the proper transliteration of “Noah” would actually be “Noach”, but that’s another matter. Greek didn’t have a ‘chet’.
Now, the text plainly intertwines all of the issues we’re discussing today and presents them as holistic and related. Immediately following the actions of the “Sons of God”, the limitation of 120 years is imposed on mankind. This immediately followed by the introduction of giants (frequently translated or transliterated as Nephilim) and God’s decision to wipe out the entire world…
Now, let’s go back to that “perfection” issue:
And these are the generations of Noe. Noe was a just man; being perfect in his generation, Noe was well-pleasing to God. And Noe begot three sons, Sem, Cham, Japheth.
.
But the earth was corrupted before God, and the earth was filled with iniquity. And the Lord God saw the earth, and it was corrupted; because all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth.
Gensis 6:10 – 13 – Brenton’s Septuagint Translation
The bold portions, I believe, shed significant light on the meaning of it all – given the context. Noah’s “perfection” is not one designating him as being sinless – that would be impossible. No, the text is telling us that, while “all flesh” had become corrupted, Noah was genetically pure.
All aboard the chrono-logic train:
- All flesh was corrupted following the actions of the “Sons of God” – that being the generation of mongrel offspring.
- God’s reaction to this genetic defilement is twofold:
- God proclaims a cataclysmic flood over all the earth, and (i postulate) as a result of the environmental changes…
- The life-span of mankind is severely reduced.
- Noah is found in God’s sight to not only be righteous and upright, walking with God, but “perfect” or, more aptly stated – genetically un-defiled.
- On account of Noah, he, his wife, his three sons and their three wives are spared… while we have attestation to the genetic purity of Noah, we cannot say the same for anyone else aboard the ark.
- Scripture tells us that not only did the nephilim exist prior to the flood, “but also after this.” (Gen 6:4)
I think if you consider the ramifications of what’s being put before us, you’re going to see that the consequences of this single chapter echo loudly throughout the remainder of the text… all the way through to the second coming of our King!
Yes, I’m dead serious… we’ve only just begun to dig into this.
Until next time,
שלום עליכם – Shalom Aleichem – Peace Be Upon You